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Senator Al Franken (D-MN), together with Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) have introduced the Agricultural Energy Programs Reauthorization Act of 2017, to reauthorize Title IX programs and funding through 2023. “Each and every day, our nation’s farmers have our backs,” said Sen. Franken, a member of the Senate Energy Committee. “I believe we need to have theirs as …

The first half of 2017 has seen new records for weekly ethanol output and inventories, according to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Today in Energy brief. The report shows a five percent increase over 2016 in U.S. weekly ethanol production, which has averaged 1.02 million barrels per day (b/d) for the first six months of 2017. On a …

Fuel ethanol production capacity in the United States is 15.5 billion gallons this year or 1.01 million barrels per day (b/d), according to the latest EIA U.S. Fuel Ethanol Plant Production Capacity report. Total capacity of ethanol plants in operation increased by more than 600 million gallons per year or about four percent from 2016, with most of the increased …

It looks like Mexico is jumping deeper into ethanol as a renewable fuel. Pretty big announcement out today. The Mexican Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) announced recently a change that will increase the maximum amount of ethanol that can be blended in Mexican gas supplies from 5.8 percent to 10 percent, except in the cities of Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City. …

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) last week announced legislation to “reduce carbon pollution over the next decade through a series of incentives for clean energy and the promotion of new technologies in the private sector.” Wyden’s Clean Energy for America Act includes technology-neutral tax credits for domestic production of clean electricity and clean transportation fuel, as well …

The future of U.S. biofuels policy was the topic of a panel at the 2016 National Ethanol Conference this week in New Orleans. Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen moderated the panel, which included industry and government stakeholders, but no representative from the Environmental Protection Agency, even though they were invited to participate. “They had expressed some …

As promised, energy was a focus of President Obama’s 2017 budget proposal, officially unveiled on Tuesday, with a promise to “move our economy away from energy sources that fuel climate change.” The budget provides for $7.7 billion in discretionary funding for clean energy research and development across 12 agencies, including $106 million for USDA to “support development of biobased energy …

The president’s budget to be released today would double funding for clean energy research and development by 2020, according to President Obama’s weekly address made on Saturday. “This will include new investments to help the private sector create more jobs faster, lower the cost of clean energy faster, and help clean, renewable power outcompete dirty fuels in every state,” said …

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor on Monday to urge his colleagues to move the bipartisan Energy Policy Modernization Act forward after Democrats blocked the bill and the amendment process last week over an impasse on including aid to address the Flint, Michigan water crisis. “The Energy Policy Modernization Act is the product of a year’s …

The CNN Republican Presidential Candidates debate from Las Vegas this week was focused entirely on national security issues, but the word biofuels was actually uttered by one of the candidates who put forth the idea of using energy as a weapon. “We ought to be challenging not only Russia, but the Iranians and the Saudis, on the point of energy,” …